Omid Namazi Reacts to "Embarrassing" Hartford Athletic Loss: "That Wasn't My Team"
The Green and Blue fell victim to a second consecutive shutout on Saturday as their defensive woes continued to haunt them.
Following a lackluster 2-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds last weekend, the emphasis for Hartford Athletic head coach Omid Namazi coming into Saturday’s matchup vs. Miami FC was limiting defensive errors, and controlling the ball in the attack.
In a 3-0 loss that saw the Green and Blue give up costly mistakes and struggle to threaten the Miami goal after a slow start, a sold-out Trinity Health Stadium was treated to pretty much the complete opposite.
“The performance was embarrassing, Namazi said after the defeat. “I just don’t know what team showed up tonight, because that wasn’t my team…Some games you play well with the ball, [but] if you’re not playing well with the ball, at least fight, at least challenge the other team. There was none of it. We didn’t play football, and we didn’t fight.”
The loss was the first of a vital three-game home stand in August for the Green and Blue, a trio of games that captain Danny Barrera labeled “must-win” games at home in order to keep what now seems to be their extremely slim playoff hopes alive.
However, with a quick midweek turnaround on the horizon, Hartford have no time to let the result linger. The Green and Blue are set for a second matchup with the Eastern Conference-leading Riverhounds in under two weeks on Wednesday, a team that Namazi mentioned ahead of Saturday’s loss did not make him feel "uncomfortable” despite the 2-0 loss last weekend.
Ahead of the Miami game, Namazi mentioned that he felt his players were not especially poor in the Pittsburgh loss, but it was once again costly defensive errors that sent Hartford home empty-handed. Following yet another defeat where the Green and Blue seemed to have taken a step back rather than a step forward, finding much-needed improvement against a compact Pittsburgh squad who sit atop the East will prove to be a tough task.
“It’s not easy,” Namazi said. “Talking in the locker room with the players, I challenge them, they either show that they can bounce back from something like this or they can pack it in. Our chances of making playoffs now are getting dimmer and dimmer.”
The main cause of frustration for Namazi in the 3-0 route? To him, a complete lack of energy from the start doomed Hartford to a loss before the halftime whistle.
“In the first half, we come out with no intensity,” Namazi said. “We allow Miami to be in the game and then go up a goal on us, and then it becomes comfortable for them, up a goal on the road, they have nothing to lose. At that point, we were playing from behind the eight ball the whole time.”
With two more home games left in August, Hartford still have a chance to finish the month on a high. Their fourth win of the 2023 campaign came in a 2-1 come-from-behind win vs. New Mexico United in the beginning of the month, but since then, any momentum Hartford could have taken from that game has ground to a halt.
Winless and scoreless in their last two, and having been outscored 5-0 in that stretch, it will take serious grit for a Hartford team who seem to be finding more questions than answers to pull anything out of this season in the final stretch. The next pair of home games will be especially telling in a make-or-break situation for a team who currently lay at the bottom of the Eastern Confernce.
Kickoff from Trinity Health Stadium on Wednesday is set for 7 p.m. on WCTX MyTV9 and ESPN+.